What The Hell Is This?! (Rhett.)

[Odion Martins]

Odion was expecting Rhett any minute now to go for breakfast, but there were still a few moments to spare, in Odion’s mind there was anyways, so he decided to quickly check his e-mails on his laptop. He had left the doors open to his dorm, and then his room so that his favourite blonde could simply walk in. While he waited for his laptop to load, the red head used the blackened screen to flatten out certain parts of his hair, which really weren’t cooperating with him today. Little things going wrong like this usually meant the sign of a bad day.

Ignoring all the alerts to update the computer, Odi opened up a new browser page, and opened up his e-mail. Ironically, one was from Rhett about Zac, the other was from Zac about Rhett. Curious, the time stopper read the mass e-mail first, a small smirk on his face. He didn’t really know Zac that well yet, he had only run into him at that football game, and Odi had even been on the guy’s team. October twenty first, he would ignore him like the rest of the school population seemed to want to do. He’d only met him once before, how hard could ignoring him be really?

It was the next e-mail, from Larousse, that made Odion freeze, his eyes unable to look away from the picture on the screen. There was a little cutesy message from Zac, but the ginger ignored it, his face becoming almost as red as his hair from the anger he was feeling. It was Rhett, kissing some dark skinned brunette boy, and it was obviously taken at Hammel. The ginger hadn’t registered Rhett had been standing in the doorframe of his room, waiting for him.

His breathing was hard, his dark, oh so dark, blue eyes finally looking up. Odion didn’t even know what to say. This picture was real, and he didn’t want to accuse Rhett, but how could he not? “Can you please, fucking, explain this,” he said softly, the sentence spoken slowly and deliberately, his eyes looking to the ground as he turned his laptop, shaking in his hands, so Rhett could see exactly what he was talking about.

Poor Odi would soon realize why Rhett (along with many other people in the school) hated Zachary Larousse.

[Rhett Goddard]

Before going to Odion's room, Rhett had taken the time to go for a morning coffee frappé. Two actually. He usually didn't do this, but he knew beforehand that day was not going to be just any day. The night before, while at the gym, he had picked up some information he didn't like that much. Zac, who was in the gym at the same time, had sent a particular email to Odion in an attempt to take another punch at Rhett in their little psychological/verbal war. Knowing with certainty that Zac had already sent it, although ignoring if Odion had or hadn't seen it, Rhett went and prepared his own plan as well: The ignore-Zac Day. The boy was going to pay one way or another, for this.

Standing in Odion's room's doorframe as Odion watched the photos in his laptop, a small knot formed in Rhett's throat. He could have warned Odion the night before, he could have come clean, but... He just couldn't really do it. He had avoided the whole Talen story for a reason, he just didn't want to talk about it, and apparently pushing the talk as far as he could just seemed like a good enough idea. But the inevitable moment had come and Rhett could tell the anger and confusion in Odion's voice.

Rhett swallowed saliva as he made his way to the ginger's bed, placing one of the frappe cups in the desk where Odion was sitting while drinking from the other. He was silent, as if contemplating his choice of words. But he wasn't doing so. In reality, he knew what he was going to say, in reality, he was just still pushing the moment as far as he could. He hadn't talk about Talen in such a long time, bringing him up again just seemed like reviving old ghosts. Ghosts he had killed and moved on from.

"They're... old." He finally said in between sipping from frappe's straw. "You weren't here yet. The photos were taken by a paranoid technopath who has cameras all over the school." His voice showed him calm, but in reality, he was nervous and really close from shaking. Sipping from his caffeinated beverage was the only thing keeping him steady. "And then they were showed in a sex-ed talk for the seniors along with many other similar couple's photos."

Crap. Big mistake. He had just called him and Talen a couple.

"No wait." Rhett covered his eyes for a second, rubbing them like removing something from that area of his face. "We weren't a couple. He had a girlfriend. We were just... a thing. A two weeks thing."

[Odion Martins]

Odion watched Rhett with fire in his eyes as he approached, drinking his frappe all nonchalantly like he didn’t think the picture or the situation was that big of a deal, which only served to make the redhead even more angry, and want nothing more than to take the extra frappe Rhett had brought and throw it right in his face.

For once in his life, Odion hadn’t been so aware of time - Rhett, was taking too much to answer the question. The ginger started to assume things, and was starting to regret coming to America only to have his heart broken, again. ”They’re old” What kind of God damn, lame ass excuse was that? Odion only shook his head and shut down his computer without exiting anything, closing the thing and leaving it in his lap as he leaned against the wall by his bed, his legs stretched out over the edge.

Hearing Rhett continually slurping at his drink made Odi want to explode, yell, anything to get rid of that infurnal picture that was continuously running through his mind. Rhett, kissing someone else. Finally the ginger looked back to the blonde, eyebrows furrowed. Rhett wasn’t helping the situation at all.

“I don’t really give a damn who took them, I’m more concerned with who is in them,” he stared at Rhett, still drinking his frappe. As if this whole thing wasn’t bad enough, the whole school had seen then picture. Fan-fucking-tastic Odion thought to himself, running a hand over his face, leaving it over his mouth. How could Rhett not tell him about this? Why would he let him find out from some pompous asshole like Zac?

Glancing from the window back to Rhett, Odion waited to hear just what else his boyfriend had to say. They weren’t a couple, just a fling. So how did Rhett see this relationship exactly? Oh, not to mention the fact that whoever this jackass was, he had a girlfriend, and Rhett had helped him cheat on her, with him. What did that make Rhett? The ginger cringed, too many things running through his mind. The fact that Rhett hadn’t said anything, hadn’t even apologized now, spoke louder than anything he had said. How was he supposed to trust him now?

In fact, what he had said only served to make things worse.

“Get the fuck out of my room,” he said, looking away from Rhett, fighting the tears. It wasn’t a request, it was a demand, a warning, and if Rhett wouldn’t head, there just might be hell to pay.

[Rhett Goddard]

Well, if it mean anything, Odion's reaction proved Rhett's decision to not talk about it had been a good idea. He could tell how hysteric the boy was. Yet, he was kind of surprised of how angry he was, taking into account he didn't actually did anything bad besides not saying anything about Talen's existence. It wasn't really like Rhett had cheated on Odion, but the ginger's reaction looked like that. Guess I'd have been stabbed by now if I had cheated on him.

"Ok, ok, calm down Martin." Rhett said calmly, which is in head, pretty much looked like trying to put a fire off with his bare hands. "Look. It was a random guy, ok? His name's Talen. Trahan, Talen Trahan. He goes here." Somehow, Rhett felt an impulse to walk to other boy and attempt to make everything better with hug, but not only he knew this had no sense, he also knew he'd most likely be kicked if he got a centimeter closer to the ginger in the state that he was. "I met him once by chance. And I'm not going to lie, I liked him. It was weird, but it was more like a... hormones thing. I mean. I didn't even like him." Great, contradicting myself, you're doing well Goddard. "Ugh. I mean. He's... He wasn't really a nice person. He constantly flirted with every single girl he saw. And as I said, he cheated on his girlfriend. With me. I didn't know he had a girlfriend though, he told me afterwards." Rhett had now stopped drinking from his frappe, only looking at the floor as he spoke. His voice starting to show concern with every passing second. "Then she found out and confronted us. They broke up in front of me and that was pretty much the last time I ever saw him."

There. Story told. Why has it been so hard to tell until now? Rhett didn't know anymore, but he clearly felt uncomfortable. He looked up at Odion. What was he suppose to add to that? He had been honest, couldn't that be enough? As much as he liked Odion, Rhett just couldn't stop thinking that relationships maybe just weren't his thing.

"I would never cheat on you like he did." Rhett was staring at the two blue pools that formed Odion's eyes. "I just... well I don't know. I don't what's the big deal. He is the past, he is unimportant to me." Rhett locked his eyes into the floor again. "You are the present, you are important..." He swallowed saliva, he couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth, and he couldn't believe how real and honest they actually were. "...to me."

[Odion Martins]

Odion sat there fuming as Rhett continued to tell the story, this time a little more in depth. “How many other random guys should I know about?” He spat out, venom coming from his thin lips. Maybe this wasn’t so much about Rhett cheating on him, as Odi believed he hadn’t, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t jealous. Odion hadn’t kissed anyone before Rhett, and here was the blonde, all, look at me, I like kissing random boys just for fun, it was nothing I swear! Bullshit it was nothing.

He began to set the computer down on the floor while Rhett spoke, trying to distract his actions so he wouldn’t do anything rash. Maybe he was just overreacting to this whole thing. But still, why hadn’t Rhett told him sooner? Then this whole thing could’ve been a big joke instead of this stupid drama.

Talen Trahan. If Odion ever saw his mug in person, it wouldn’t look so pretty once he was done with it.

And then Rhett was saying one thing, and then saying another thing about the same thing. What was Rhett trying to convince Odion of again exactly? Did Rhett even know what he was trying to say? So the blonde had been innocent in thinking this Trahan dick was single, that much was good to know. It was also good he stopped making the insufferable sipping noise. Odion was calming down considerably, but he still wasn’t feeling good about the whole thing.

He wiped at his face again, this time getting rid of the tears that threatened to fall. He wasn’t leaving Rhett or anything, he just wanted answers. He always wanted answers, this wasn’t anything new. Maybe Rhett was afraid to tell him or something, which only further stabbed into Odion’s heart. Obviously the blonde still didn’t trust him. The ginger’s anger subsided slightly as Rhett told him how important he was to the blonde. Odi knew Rhett well enough to be able to tell when he was lying, and when he wasn’t. Rhett also would never say something like that unless it was the truth.

“We’ve been dating for two weeks now, does that mean we’re done too?” He asked, even though he very well knew what the answer was. He didn’t really want an answer, he just wanted to get it out. And then he jumped to the next question. “Why didn’t you tell me before?” It was a simple question without a simple answer. And he still hadn’t apologized for letting Odi find out this way. Honestly, the ginger often thought that the blonde lost his brain every now and again. “I know this whole thing is new to you, as it is to me, but seriously Rhett, you don’t keep something like that from your boyfriend and let fucking Larousse tell me.”

Odion sighed, feeling calmer the more he spoke.

“At least you didn’t know he was going to do that,” he said, getting up from the bed now, grabbing the extra frappe, ready to forgive Rhett despite his lack of wanting forgiveness, “right?”

[Rhett Goddard]

Odion was putting Rhett between a wall and a hard place. How was now Rhett supposed to answer that small question about other random guys if just the mention of one made Odion create all this drama? Should he answer? Should he lie? How do people manage to survive this?

"I don't know, a few?" He closed his eyes as he spoke. "I... kissed LaRousse once. It was more like he kissed me, though." Insert many mental headdesks here. "As far as Hammel concerns, that's about it, though. But it was just that. You're my first serious thing and... And of course I don't want this to be over yet. Or ever."

Odion was right. Rhett should have tell him about it. But really, what was he supposed to do? Sit with Odion and tell him the names, locations and circumstances of all the people Rhett has ever kissed? It just seemed like a stupid idea, even if the number was small. It's not like Rhett asked, or cared, about Odion's past things, but then again the ginger was a complete newbie in the area, so Rhett really couldn't put himself in Odion's shoes.

And now the last question. Was Odion trying to get mad at Rhett on purpose? The blonde wished to be the time controller this time, maybe he could stop time and never let it continue again in an attempt to answer that last question that Rhett knew just couldn't bring anything that bad things. Yeah, relationships are not my thing...

"I... found out last night." He still couldn't bring himself to look at Odion anymore. He did hope there were no sharp objects around. "I... didn't know what to do or how to tell you so..." He stopped talking for a small moment, but it seemed like entire minutes passed. "I don't know Martin, ok? I don't know!" He jumped out of bed and started to randomly walk in the room. "I just don't know. I wanted to avoid all these, I don't know. Ugh. I'm not... I don't know what I'm doing, fine?" Rhett was frustrated and it clearly showed in his voice. "You said. I'm new at this. I don't know what to do or how to or what's right and what's not. It's like... I just didn't want to..."

He stopped walking in circles and growled. Why this had to be so hard? He finally walked up to Odion and sat in the floor in front of him, grabbing his hand.

"I'm sorry." The blonde dared to look at Odion's eyes. "I just... I just didn't know what to do. And still don't know what to do. And I hate that. I hate not knowing. It's... Fuck, just don't leave me." He looked away. "Please."

[Odion Martins]

Odion was shaking his head again as Rhett spoke. He sure knew how to pick the guys he kissed... Aside from himself, naturally. He sighed, at least that was the end of that. Rhett had kissed two boys in Hammel, what did that imply exactly? Odion didn’t want to know. He would, however, prefer it if the blonde would call their relationship what is was, not a thing, but that was just being nitpicky and it didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.

The ginger took the sweet part out of the sentence and engrained it to memory – Rhett didn’t ever want this relationship to be over. “So a few wrong kisses and you’re condemning yourself to me for life?” He asked, just a bit of teasing in his voice now. He was trying to move on from this whole ugly mess.

But then Rhett had to go and be a dumbass again, and Odion nearly crushed the paper cup in his hand. The small moment the older boy had stopped talking, Odi considered yelling at Rhett this time, maybe throw the steaming frappe at the boy, but the blonde just kept on talking, and the ginger’s blue, blue eyes followed him pace in Odion’s small room. One thing was for sure out of the mess of babble coming out of Rhett’s mouth, and that was that he needed to learn how to communicate a little better.

“You could’ve just talked to me...” Odion said as Rhett finally stopped walking in tiny circles. “I’m not as scary as I look,” he said, again, an attempt at a joke. Didn't Rhett know that Odi wanted to know everything about him? The strawberry haired boy couldn’t yell at Rhett now, not when he was being honest about not knowing how to go about telling Odi, but ignoring things, especially when someone else was about to tell him about them, was not the solution. Didn’t Rhett think this was going to come back and bite him in the ass?

Then Rhett was sitting down in front of him, holding his hand, and Odion’s eyebrows furrowed. Now what was going on? His eyes softened as Rhett, out of his own will, apologized. The ginger’s lips curled into a half-smile, mentally counting this as the second time the blonde had said this, but the blonde was looking away, not seeing that Odion wasn’t that angry anymore.

Odion squeezed Rhett’s hand around his, “Can you just be open around me?” He requested, and when the blonde still wasn’t looking at him, the younger boy sat down with him, his drink still in hand. “You don’t have to know everything, I’m not asking you to,” he said softly, trying to catch Rhett’s gaze. “Hey,” he said, bringing the boy’s hand to his lips and kissing the knuckles, “I’m not leaving you moron, I’m right here.”

“Thanks for the frappe,” Odion said, glad that Rhett had remembered the last time he hadn’t gotten the ginger a drink too. Now they could just move on from this episode, and it probably made them stronger. Rhett wouldn’t know it, but talking about it probably helped him get over things, even though he would never admit to something so emotional.

“Can we go for breakfast now?” He sipped at his drink. “I’ll buy,” he offered, his thumb caressing the hand of the one he loved. Hmm, maybe this what love really was like... Fighting, but staying. Not running away.

[Rhett Goddard]

Rhett was such a crumbling mess, and what was worse, he knew it. But did he care? Hell yes. As Odion's mood change became noticeable through his voice and taunts, Rhett, however, felt better by the moment, even if much more ashamed of the state he had ended in. Slowly picking himself from the floor, Rhett managed to stand up back to the other boy's height to look at him directly as he finally affirmed that things were good between them.

He sighed mentally in relief.

Finishing to listen Odion's word, Rhett went and finally gave the boy that hug that haunted his mind a few minutes ago. The one that could make it all right. His arms embraced the ginger boy and their chests carefully as Rhett found that spot where his head rested perfectly behind Odion's ear and he could smell that aroma that he had already grew accustomed too.

"I'm sorry." He whispered from his position before landing a kiss in Odion's neck. "Come'on then." Rhett took a step back and let a soft smile out. "Let's go."